My Recharge

TenneT calls for 660MW in additional German offshore wind auctions

The TSO also suggests to link offshore arrays in the western part of the German North Sea to the Dutch power grid

Transmission system operator TenneT has called for an additional offshore wind tender in Germany for 600MW of capacity to use spare grid link capacities that will soon become available, and also suggests to link wind arrays in the western part of Germany’s North Sea to the Dutch grid.

“Around 660MW in grid connection capacity in foreseeable time will run unused in the North Sea; the legislator could allocate these free resource via an additional tender to offshore wind parks.”

Hartman added that Germany should use this potential - also given the government’s recently stated updated target to reach a 65% share of renewables in the country’s electricity mix by 2030.

The governing left-right coalition in Berlin earlier this year had suggested it may hold an extra 8GW in onshore wind and solar tenders, and would also seek an additional “contribution” from offshore wind. But economics and energy minister Peter Altmaier so far has not revealed any detailed plans for that, drawing criticism from renewables groups and the Green Party opposition.

The working group for offshore wind energy (AGOW), a group representing offshore wind operators, supported TenneT's call, and demanded to also hold additional tenders for at least 900MW of offshore capacity in the Baltic Sea, which would boost the volume of extra auctions to 1.5GW.

"Both should be part of additional tenders for offshore wind in the years 2019 and 2020," AGOW managing director Uwe Knickrehm said.

The group called upon the government to create a legal framework for additional tenders after its summer recess.

TenneT also said still-to-be tendered-off arrays in the western part of Germany’s North Sea should be connected to the Dutch electricity grid via a link to the port of Eemshaven near the German border.

Such a grid link could save Germany some €200m ($234m) due to a diminished need for underground transmission cables on land, TenneT argues, while at the same time lessening bottlenecks in the German power grid.

TenneT is already working over plans to link future Dutch and English offshore wind arrays through an interconnector.

The German-Dutch TSO also said that it transmitted 5.15% more offshore power from the German North Sea during the first half of 2018 when compared to the year-earlier period, or 8.17 terawatt hours.

Another 0.87TWh were produced in the German part of the Baltic Sea, which is transmitted to land by 50Hertz, another TSO.

24/7 of depth and dimension on the stories that matter most to the renewables sectors

Log in or subscribe to read this article

TenneT calls for 660MW in additional German offshore wind auctions

TenneT calls for 660MW in additional German offshore wind auctions

The TSO also suggests to link offshore arrays in the western part of the German North Sea to the Dutch power grid

Transmission system operator TenneT has called for an additional offshore wind tender in Germany for 600MW of capacity to use spare grid link capacities that will soon become available, and also suggests to link wind arrays in the western part of Germany’s North Sea to the Dutch grid.

“Around 660MW in grid connection capacity in foreseeable time will run unused in the North Sea; the legislator could allocate these free resource via an additional tender to offshore wind parks.”

Hartman added that Germany should use this potential - also given the government’s recently stated updated target to reach a 65% share of renewables in the country’s electricity mix by 2030.

The governing left-right coalition in Berlin earlier this year had suggested it may hold an extra 8GW in onshore wind and solar tenders, and would also seek an additional “contribution” from offshore wind. But economics and energy minister Peter Altmaier so far has not revealed any detailed plans for that, drawing criticism from renewables groups and the Green Party opposition.

The working group for offshore wind energy (AGOW), a group representing offshore wind operators, supported TenneT's call, and demanded to also hold additional tenders for at least 900MW of offshore capacity in the Baltic Sea, which would boost the volume of extra auctions to 1.5GW.

"Both should be part of additional tenders for offshore wind in the years 2019 and 2020," AGOW managing director Uwe Knickrehm said.

The group called upon the government to create a legal framework for additional tenders after its summer recess.

TenneT also said still-to-be tendered-off arrays in the western part of Germany’s North Sea should be connected to the Dutch electricity grid via a link to the port of Eemshaven near the German border.

Such a grid link could save Germany some €200m ($234m) due to a diminished need for underground transmission cables on land, TenneT argues, while at the same time lessening bottlenecks in the German power grid.

TenneT is already working over plans to link future Dutch and English offshore wind arrays through an interconnector.

The German-Dutch TSO also said that it transmitted 5.15% more offshore power from the German North Sea during the first half of 2018 when compared to the year-earlier period, or 8.17 terawatt hours.

Another 0.87TWh were produced in the German part of the Baltic Sea, which is transmitted to land by 50Hertz, another TSO.

Digital subscription

Buy 2019.

Get 2018 Free.

Digital trial

14 day Free Trial

More subscription offers

NHST Global Publications AS use technologies such as cookies and other tracking scripts to analyse trends, administer our services, track user movements and to gather information about our whole user base. Unregistered users may opt-out of such tracking in the browser settings by ticking off “do not track me”. Read our cookie policy here.